MLB Playoffs

With the Wild Card Games now complete, the 2016 American League Division Series is set to begin Thursday, with the league's final four teams vying for the AL pennant.

Each contest will have its own spotlight, as the Game 1 slate features an afternoon showdown followed by a nightcap. Regardless, Thursday should yield some spectacular baseball, as both sets of teams appear evenly matched.

Following the AL and NL Wild Card wins by the Toronto Blue Jays and San Francisco Giants, respectively, the MLB playoff bracket is officially set, and both the ALDS and NLDS are about to kick off and begin the road to the World Series.

The waiting is just about over for the Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians and the Texas Rangers. The Toronto Blue Jays just want to pick it up from where they left off Tuesday night.

The Blue Jays won their Wild Card Game against the Baltimore Orioles when Edwin Encarnacion launched an Ubaldo Jimenez pitch into the second deck in left field with two runners on in the bottom of the 11th inning at the Rogers Centre, giving the Blue Jays a 5-2 walk-off victory.

The Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers are sure to keep things civil in a friendly American League Division Series rematch that won't fester any animosity on either side.

Just kidding. Tensions are sure to brew in this bitter rivalry.

It's October! Let's all go down to the pumpkin patch and see which appears first, the Great Pumpkin or Zach Britton...

1. Standing in the Shadows of October

They've won Cy Young awards. They're earning hundreds of millions of dollars.

But will Boston's David Price and Los Angeles' Clayton Kershaw dominate in one of these postseasons the way they've dominated in the regular season?

The Boston Red Sox were remarkable in the month of September and took control of what had been a tight American League East when they won 11 games in a row.

That streak enabled them to get the best of the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles, and while they lost five of their final six games, they still won the division comfortably.

NEW YORK — If the Chicago Cubs are the team that wants to spend this month rewriting their history, the San Francisco Giants are the team that can spend October embracing theirs.

The San Francisco Giants' even-year magic continued Wednesday with a 3-0 victory over the New York Mets in the National League Wild Card Game.

Madison Bumgarner thwarted the Mets lineup with a complete-game shutout, and Conor Gillaspie shared the glory with a three-run homer in the ninth inning against New York's closer, Jeurys Familia. San Francisco is attempting to add another World Series title to its resume after championships in 2010, 2012 and 2014, and the win in Citi Field was the first step.

The American League Wild Card Game will be a tough act to follow, but a top-flight pitching matchup is on tap as the San Francisco Giants and New York Mets square off on the National League side of things Wednesday night.

Both teams have their respective aces on the mound with the season on the line, as Madison Bumgarner (15-9, 2.79 ERA, 251 K) takes the ball for San Francisco and Noah Syndergaard (14-9, 2.60 ERA, 218 K) toes the rubber for New York.

Who will come out on top in tonight's NL Wild Card Game and move on to face the Chicago Cubs in the NLDS?

If the MLB postseason follows the same course the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles traveled Tuesday night, October will be a month to remember.